Flames of red
by Domcia880
Summary: Kana never thought that downloading the Jungle app will turn her life upside down. But she finally found a place to call home.
1. Chapter 1

Skipping classes wasn't something Kana was proud of, but this High School her parents have chosen for her was a nightmare. She was separated from her friends, who went to school she wanted to attend to as well, and couldn't make any new ones. And on top of everything they needed to move out to another city due to her mother's business.

The feeling of solitude was making a path her way even though she was used to being alone at home playing games or reading. She wasn't a very talkative nor open person but at all means she wasn't also an introvert. Hanging out with friends was fun sometimes, so she missed those old days.

"I lost, again" she muttered to herself, not pleasant with big letters on the holographical screen of her PDA.

She was playing a popular game named J-cube. Kana couldn't resist downloading the app when the whole school was babbling about Jungle, and since no one of her classmates were eager to talk to her, she thought she would feel better to crush every one person who teased her.

But the reality was a bitch to her.

After log in for the first time, she miraculously had an access to all the chats she was ever mentioned. It drove her crazy at first with all the bubbles with 'Kana's annoying', 'what is she even doing in a school like this, I thought it was for smart ppl', but after some time she found them easy to ignore. She got the point, really, but it wasn't her idea to be here.

She learned later that no matter how hard she tried, she would never be an ideal child in her parents demanding eyes. She couldn't keep up with school, the program was made for special students and she was not one. Kana hated the fact her mother liked to think she is above the rest which was the opposite in reality.

The girl sometimes wondered how much her parents paid the principal to accept her school application. She could not believe she would pass with her average results.

After some time she had learned how to hack her attendance at classes. It wasn't that hard as she imagined, she never actually thought she would do such a thing, but having so many absences wasn't good since her mother was strict about school.

With a help from Jungle she managed to learn a lot of things about network. It started to fascinate her how simply she could break into someone else's computer without going out of her room, and not to mention it was useful in online games.

"What's this" she asked, tilting her head slowly, and looked at the weird notification at the top of her PDA. It's popped out some time ago, but she was busy with a game to look what's inside.

She opened it, eventually and a photo of some bar came into a view. A surprise party for Homra, it said below.

What was Homra, she wondered. Why would Jungle have a party inside some rusty bar? And this recruitment limit... 3000 people. That was definitely not an amount of people who would fit in there. What was going on?

Kana could find some information about this Homra thing but there was no time for that as her clock was showing her that the appointment date was for today. Just in half an hour.

She even leaved nearby, so just having a peek wouldn't harm her.

Or so she thought.

When she arrived at a destination, the first thing that greeted her were loud shouts and the noise of fireworks. The view was quite nice with all the colors and lights, but then she realized people were actually screaming and throwing bottles with sparklers inside at many directions. Anyone could get hit.

Were these people crazy? And what about those masks?

"Aw, shit..." Kana gasped when someone bumped into her, and she fell on the ground. She needed to get the fuck out of here as soon as possible.

Her PDA buzzed suddenly with a message. She opened it quickly, getting up and checking her surroundings, not wanting to fall on her butt again.

A green holographical parrot appeared in front of her phone, scaring her to death.

"Welcome to Jungle! You are a new player!" it screaked, loudly. "You have one mission available!"

Wait, what? She wasn't new to Jungle, she played many games. And what was with this stupid bird! It was getting on her nerve.

Walking away some distant from the crowd, she pressed her finger at the notice she received.

"Mission no.1: 'Mess with the Homra'", it said.

Okay. So someone had set everything up just to mess with people from that bar? And was using kids to achieve his goals? Lovely...

What was even that Homra again? She definitely was gonna check this up later.

The vibrations of her phone made her look down on it. There was another notice about the system being under attack and being invaded. Then someone was suddenly yelling about it as well, but something seemed off. Just like he was informing everyone on purpose.

The Jungle app was shut off all of a sudden, but after a moment everything came back.

"No, you stupid bird, I don't want to wear any mask!" Kana screamed at the green parrot, which was screeching loudly at her to get ready. "I don't even have..."

The sound of glass shattering cut her off, scaring her. She looked up and saw a broken window of the bar. Then the door opened and three people came outside, screaming at the students to stop this already.

'It's going out of hand' Kana thought, stepping back, not wanting to get involved. The last thing she needed was getting arrested by the police. She wondered why the bar owner didn't call them already.

"Misaki!"

Someone yelled from behind her, startling the girl, and then run past her, nearly bumping into her shoulder. She could only catch that he was wearing a student uniform and had dark hair with black, thick glasses on his nose.

When he disappeared in the crowd, Kana took off, running in the directions of her house.

* * *

Kana opened her eyes as her alarm went off. She didn't want to get up, but she had already so many skipped classes and, of course, she could just hack into school system, however doing it every time was just stupid. Someone would finally notice.

She entered the bathroom to get ready to school, not paying attention to her PDA, which was beeping wildly. She was nonstop getting notifications about the missions since she came back home yesterday. Some about that Homra again, some about other silly things.

Kana tried to shut off the app, but to no avail, as if it was part of her phone.

So, what was exactly Jungle and what with the sudden missions? It was a game or what?

She gained some Jungle points yesterday, completing some of tasks, but what was its purpose? What would happen when she rank up? As far as she knew there are 6 ranks and she is the lowest. Not to mention her previous points from J-cube magically disappeared.

After brushing her long brownish hair, she quickly made a ponytail and took off to school.

She was fairly mad at her points loss, but she knew she would make them back fast. And the breaks were good to do that. Kana once tried to play some games at classes but quickly regretted it when the teacher was angered with her not paying attention.

At the break, she was about to pull out her PDA, but the conversation between her classmates took her attention.

"I ranked up yesterday! Who knows we could flush them out so quickly" said one of the boys with blonde hair, silly smile placed on his face.

"Yeah, those Homra pricks had it coming" replied his friend.

Kana's ears perked at that name. Then her lips turn into a smirk. So not everybody in this snob school is so perfect as they say. She couldn't believe it.

She quickly made her way toward them. Try her luck, maybe she actually could get some info out of the duo.

"Hey, what do you know about Homra?" she asked suddenly, startling them shitless. "And what's with ranking up? This weird parrot only said that the J rank players are to meet up with the king. Who is he? The creator of Jungle? Tell me everything you know!"

"Wha..? Could you speak slower and not yell...? Who are you, anyway-"

"Why would we tell you anything?"

Came the second voice, cutting off the first one, evidently annoyed. The guy got up from his chair and looked Kana in her hazel eyes.

This made her bit her lips. Ah, and there she thought they would tell her everything.

"If you want the information, we can exchange for the points, right, Takeru?" said the blonde guy again, nudging his friend slightly with his elbow. "Think, easy points!"

Yeah, points. As if she had many. Thanks again Jungle for deleting my progress!, she thought.

"Would be nice" he agreed. "But still. I don't want to tell her anything."

"Don't be like that!"

"Shut up! If she can beat the whole school in this fucking game, why she needs our help? Get it yourself, you hear me?" Takeru took a step toward her, furrowing his brows.

Ah, she remembered now.

He was that annoying, hot-headed kid, Itou Takeru. They had math together and it just happened that Kana played with him J-cube a week ago for many times and of course she always won.

"You know, it's not my fault you suck at playing such simple game" she stated, crossing her arms and then sighed. It was getting her nowhere.

"You..." He gritted his fists, taking steps toward her, but then he stopped and turned around. "I'm going to the cafeteria, you're coming too, Sou" and without waiting, he leaved the classroom.

"Ah, gonna get my bag and be there in a sec!" the other guy shouted after Takeru, and then looked at the girl. "Sorry about him, he always gets so angry if it comes to competition."

"Yeah, I can tell..."

"But he's a good guy, so don't think bad of him!" he pleaded. "By the way, my name is Watabane Sougo, but you can call me Sou."

He extended his hand towards her and she glanced at him warily. It was a long time since someone greeted her in this school nightmare she was dreaming. Everyone turned her back at her, when they realized she didn't belong here. That she was not as smart as them.

"Igarashi Kana..." she muttered, as she took the waiting hand in her.

"If I remember right, we have two classes together." The boy smiled when she nodded." And about your questions... I can tell you one thing or two."

"But I don't have many points" she admitted, looking away. "I don't know what happened but when that parrot appeared, my account got empty."

"What? But you were so high in the ranking!"

"Yeah, thanks for reminding..." she mumbled to herself, eyeing Sougo who pulled immediately his PDA and searched through it.

"You're not there anymore" he stated, then made a huge sigh. "What a waste of points... But maybe it's just a glitch or something? Have you tried to reinstall the app?"

To be honest she tried everything she was able to think of.

"Didn't work."

"I'm sorry, I don't know much about those things, but I'm sure you'll get back your points eventually!" He sent her a big, warm smile, probably trying to console her, but all she felt was nervousness. Still, having someone speaking so lightly to her after all these awful weeks was weird. "And about the Jungle, I have this one friend who is an N-rank. He said something about receiving some powers with the game progress. I don't know what he exactly meant, though. But playing with friends is nice, right?"

Is he for real?, thought Kana. What she saw yesterday wasn't hanging out with friends and playing games anymore.

"Attacking someone else's property doesn't qualify as being nice to me" she fumed, furrowing her eyebrows. "And what for? To rank up?"

"But they are the bad ones! Haven't you heard of the rumors? Homra is a very aggressive group of thugs and they don't hesitate to hurt anyone. What happened yesterday only reminded those fuckers that there is someone who wants to stop them!"

She took a step back, surprised at his sudden outburst. Sougo most likely noticed this as he set his hand in an apologetical gesture and said "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you!"

"It's nothing. Thanks for telling me, though."

He didn't tell her much, but still, it was better than nothing. Since she couldn't count on internet, cuz there was nothing about the gang, she felt like dropping the case. Why would she care anyway?

But on the other hand it was too late apparently. She couldn't delete this app, have lost all her progress so far, she just deserved to know what was going on.

After receiving a 'see ya later' from Sougo, she took her bag as well and decided that since it was a lunch break time, she should eat something.

* * *

It's been two weeks already and Kana was starting to lose any hopes of finding answers. She got used to her new app, or rather it stopped to irritate her as much as it did before, and after her parents return from a business trip, she decided to take care of school. She didn't even remember when was the last time she had a book in hand.

Kana didn't like not keeping up with the rest of her class but also she wasn't doing that for her parents' sake or so. She was really aware that graduating that high school would open the gate to a good job, or just any job, to obtain money and then move on her own. That was her goal.

It wasn't like she hated her parents, they were doing everything to give her a proper life, it was just... They weren't there for her at all. Always busy with work, wanting her to be an ideal child.

She yawned, bringing her free hand to cover her mouth. She was making her way back home from the convenience store with a bag full of drinks and snacks. It was the friday evening after all. She could have fun. Alone.

She considered calling her friends from old school but they didn't make any sign of living since holidays, so probably they would gonna ditch her anyway.

When she turned into an alley, she immediately regretted it as a hand appeared from behind her and clamped over her mouth. Dropping her bag to the ground, the girl started to fight back but quickly realized it was no use as a weird smelling cloth was pressed to her nose. Her surroundings got a little fuzzy and then a blackout came into her vision.


	2. Chapter 2

Friday's evening wasn't meant for work. The thoughts surrounded Yata's mind as he looked at the three people in the room. The rest was out, running errands and he wondered why even Totsuka had to go, he always stayed at the bar no matter what. According to mr Kusanagi, who owned the whole place, the guy didn't like fighting. Which was actually good, someone had to take care of the others and despite being utterly optimistic and irresponsible, Totsuka could always bring them back to reality. Especially when it came to Mikoto.

Yata wasn't here for long but could say already that this weird, warm feeling was getting stronger every passing day. The feeling he couldn't obtain from his real house as his mother leaved him behind to start a new family. He knew they loved him, but he preferred to not be in a way. The place started to getting crowded as the twins were growing up, so moving out with his best friend was the best option he thought of.

And here they were now, at the bar mr Kusanagi invited them after the accident with those damned students.

Saruhiko had come back a few minutes ago with an unconscious girl in his arms and now she was lying on the couch. Yata couldn't help but stare, because he didn't know what the other boy was up to, why would he bring someone here, he was just so damn silent the whole time.

"Care to explain, Saru?" he asked eventually, looking at his friend, who's been scrolling through PDA he stole from the girl.

"There were unknown activities in our system, someone tried to get some information invading our data, but that's nothing you idiots would understand, right?"

The cocky grin Saruhiko sent him was enough to make his blood boil. He was used to being called names since he wasn't the smartest one in the world and Saruhiko was a fucking genius, but the way the other stated this still pissed him off.

"Shut up, smartass!" yelled Yata and then he looked out toward Kamamoto, who's been eating snacks the whole time, not interested in anything. His eyes automatically rolled at the sight and he wondered if there was something more important for this fatso than his food. "Okay, so what exactly... Hey, what are you doing...!"

He was about to ask Saruhiko what he planned to do with the girl, when suddenly the other stand up, made his way toward the couch and then started shaking her arms.

"Iganashi Kana, you better wake up now" the boy stated and Yata wondered how could he be so close to her with his face so expressionless. He could feel goosebumps all over his body already at the thought of touching her, but it all came to stop when Saruhiko's hand tightened its grip on her arm. He was sure it was going to leave some bruises.

"Hey, you're hurting her!" Yata quickly found his way next to his friend and tried to stop him, but Saruhiko let go of her immediately. "Why did you bring her here, anyway? And what's with her not waking up?! Don't tell me you drugged her!"

"Misaki, shut up, you are too loud" was the only answer Yata knew he was gonna get for now.

"I told ya before to not call me that when we are here!"

"Yata!"

The loud yell from the entrance made him tighten his grip on Saruhiko's blouse and it was when he realized that his fingers were deeply sinking into the blue cloth. Yata didn't need to turn around to know who the voice belonged to, but decided to do it anyway, releasing his hands away from his friend first.

"Kusanagi-san..." he greeted a tall man with sunglasses placed on his nose and observed as he put a cigarette into his mouth, lighting it and then taking a big draw.

"How many times do I need to remind you to keep it down here." The older man moved toward his bar and put the groceries on the counter. "You kids maybe don't get it, but we still have some customers. It's not a playground."

Even though he was used to being scolded, Yata still felt uneasy. The last thing he wanted was causing troubles for people who accepted him.

He was ready to mumble his apology when the loud beeping noise caught his attention. Saruhiko was back to PDA he had stolen earlier, but when he clicked on his tongue and made definitely not an amused face, Yata knew something was off. Whatever the boy was searching for, the screen showed 'no match found'.

"So, tell me who's your lil' friend out there."

Mr. Kusanagi pointed his finger at the sleeping girl, a sneaky grin placed on his face, and Yata wondered if he really liked to tease them that much.

"We're not friends" he grumbled. "Saru just brought her here."

"Is it somewhat related to the case I have spoken with you two days ago, Fushimi?"

"What case?" Yata immediately butted in before the other could make any sound and then glared at Saruhiko. "Why do you always keep everything to yourself? I could help, you know."

"Misaki, stop being so nosy. Just who the hell told you I need to confess everything I do to you? If something doesn't concern you, then don't put your annoying nose into this."

"But..."

But aren't we partners, was what he wanted to say. Nothing passed through his throat though, he could only watch Saruhiko's back as he made his way toward the bar to speak with Kusanagi-san.

They've known each other for some years now, but for two weeks Saruhiko acted as if nothing had happened at all, as if they were still in middle school with no connection at all. He knew the other was not used to any affection, but he already opened up enough for Yata to call him a close friend. Now it seemed as though Saruhiko was slowly closing his heart and he couldn't get back into it again. Everything was perfect till they joined the group, but that could not be the reason, right? Yata was sure Saruhiko found them as important as himself.

He suddenly jumped when someone grabbed his hand and quickly turned back to know the source. When his eyes met the hazel ones, he froze immediately. The girl just woke up!

"Who are you?"

"I-I... We are..." he tried, but all he could focus was her hands still on his. "We are..."

"We are Homra" said the voice next to his ear, scaring him shitless. He broke the contact with the girl, making her back thump into the couch she was sitting on the whole time.

Kusanagi-san only grinned at his reaction.

"Ah, sorry.. " Yata mumbled, regretting that he used too much strength to push her hands away. He looked again at her only to see that she was staring at them with her eyes widened, still tied hands in front of her as if she tried to shield herself.

"We have some questions for you. I hope you would cooperate."

* * *

"I told you already, I know nothing!"

No matter how many times Kana said this, they didn't seem to believe her. She was at her loss, she knew that. Expecting anything good from this group was impossible.

"It's funny because every truck led us to your phone."

Kana looked at the boy with glasses, who just talked for the first time, and wondered if someone really could say that something's funny with such bored expression. He was still rummaging through her PDA, much to her displeasure.

"I can't believe she's a spy, she looks so young..." said the one with ginger hair. He seemed to be the more rational person among the group, maybe even he would help her get out of here somehow later.

"Misaki, you look like a first grader yourself, so don't speak about others."

"Hey, I don't!"

Suddenly an arm encircled around his shoulders, making him stop with anything he wanted to say. "Fushimi's right. You guys are not much older, but here you are. Age is just a number, is that not?"

"Wait, did you call him Misaki..?" Kana asked not looking at anyone in particular, her brows furrowing. She just remembered this name being shouted a few days ago, but could not pinpoint it anywhere.

"T-That's my name. You've got some problem with that?" The small one crossed his arms with a slight embarrassed face.

"No, just..."

Kana then recalled that she had seen them before when students attacked this bar. This Misaki guy had been screaming about jungle invasion and the other with glasses nearly bumped into her.

She was about to explain everything when the bell sound from the door made her stop.

"It's so cold outside these days!" Came a loud voice from behind her.

"Welcome back, Totsuka-san" greeted Misaki and Kana jumped slightly scared when a hand appeared right next to her head which was laying on the back of the couch she was still sitting.

"Yeah, I'm back!" the guy screeched happily, waving his other hand toward everyone. Then he leaned into the sofa and bent his head to look at Kana. "Why didn't you tell me that we're having a visitor today? I would've come earlier." But when the man with sunglasses told him about her, his smiling face dropped and he straighten up. "And here I was wondering why she's tied."

He approached the others and Kana wondered if the things would get even worse. She told them already that the whole hacking their system wasn't her doing but no one believed her. Why did she download this app anyway? If she wasn't so curious, she would've never been in this situation in the first place.

"Totsuka."

An unfamiliar voice came from the door again, this time making her whole body shiver. Just something in that voice seemed both calm and threatening at the same time, too intimidate for her liking.

"Ah, King!" yelled the blonde guy, smile never leaving his face. Not even when the bartender slapped his head.

"Close the door next time, will ya?"

"But King was just a few steps behind me. Who knew it would take him forever to come inside" he complained, hand rested at the place where he was hit.

Kana didn't listen to anyone, occupied with following with her sight the redhead man as he sat at the bar stool, facing her partially, his head leaning against a hand which elbow was put on the countertop. He took a big draw from a cigarette he just light and it was that moment when Kana wondered if she's crazy or what, but she swore she saw him light it with his finger alone!

A few days ago she heard from Sougo at school that Homra's leader was a red monster. She just could not reject the feeling that she just happened to met him in person, the other guy named him a king even. Could this evening turn any worse?

"Hey, are you listening?"

Kana yelped surprised when a hand waved in front of her face.

"I said I was going to untie you" said the blonde haired guy and then added: "unless you don't want to."

"No, untie me, please!" she begged. Her hands hurt so bad and it was such a relief to took the binds off. She started to massage her wrists, looking everywhere only to find that this jerk who tied her was gone. "Where is my PDA?"

The bartender, Kusanagi-san as she remembered, made a few steps toward her and offered her a glass of water. "Fushimi took it with himself. It seems that it got infected by greens to spy on us."

"I really don't know about anything. I downloaded the app just to play games, then after some mails I could not even uninstall this." Kana took a sip from the glass, thinking about what else to say. She felt so confused, not even the sudden release made her calmer. And to think her phone was confiscated by that weirdo... She needed it as a pass for school.

"Don't worry, we will return your phone as soon as possible. Fushimi is a really smart person, I know he'll make it before the week is off" he pointed with a wink and Kana wondered if he could read her mind or it was her face that showed all the concerns.

* * *

"I'll be good on my own, you don't have to do this" Kana protested when the bartender leaved the building right after her. He said earlier something about walking her home, but she didn't actually feel good about this. Even though they had released her, she still couldn't help but being wary toward them.

"It's not a good idea for a lady to wander around the town when it's dark" he responded as they walked ahead. "You said earlier that you've got a mail. What was inside?"

"An invitation."

The look on a man face told her he knew exactly what was this invitation for.

"So you came?" he simply asked and Kana nodded, observing as the man took a draw from his cigarette.

She was ready to see a cloud of smoke, but with a flick of his finger, she could only spot the fire balls thrown into the sky instead. It was somewhat mesmerizing and scary at the same time, as if magic really existed in this world.

The flames made their path up only to fall down not so far from where they were standing. Kana heard groans and some people collapsed on the ground. The others get out from their hiding and she screamed when something green like laser nearly hit her in the head.

Then the lights of green and red were fighting against each other and she could not even move a finger out of fear. It's not everyday when you see a fight like this. Shit, she has never seen a street fight alone to begin with, so it felt too scary for her. Though it ended so fast she couldn't even notice when a certain bartender was standing before her with an offering hand. It was when Kana realized she was sitting on the ground and feeling kinda embarrassed she quickly stand up with his help.

"We got a tail ever since we leaved the bar" Kusanagi-san explained looking at her with soft eyes as if trying to calm her down. "Sorry for scaring you."

"I'm fine."

They stopped before Kana's house this time without any disturbances.

"I advise you to not going out after dark, you may not have any relation to the case, but still we can't assure if you're useful for them or not" he pointed out and then handed her a card with a phone number written on it. "Just in case something happens."

"Wait, so you're not suspecting me?"

"Well I was, but I've never seen someone gripping the hell out of his purse before like you did and they would never attack when you are still with me, so I think it makes it clear." He laughed and then Kana felt a hand ruffling her hair. "You don't have to worry, we gotta help you. I hate the idea of them using kids."

As she heard seriousness in the tone of his voice, Kana couldn't help but smile a little. She wanted to know about this group ever since she was invited to the show made by greens, but what she found out was actually a group of caring people.

"Thanks, Kusanagi-san" she said before they parted and went straight to her bedroom. In all this chaos, she totally forgot about the bags full of food laying somewhere on the street, she wasn't even hungry at all.


End file.
